Over the past moons strange and dark things have been happening in the kingdoms. To summarize simply: a small group of people in the kingdoms attempted a ritual to summon the demon lord Rahu from Chongun lore. The nefarious Rahu covered the lands in years or darkness and cut swaths through the population with his armies, forcing the remainder of humanity to hide in scattered clusters. His summoning would surely shatter civilization as we know it, plunging us back into this darkness.

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A journal with four "key" prophecies was placed on the Chronicles of the Wind. The prophecies were as follow:

The blood of a guardian

Black silken strands of death flowing through silvery streams of life

Defiling of a God's temple

A captured song bird's strains

Shortly afterward, several heinous deeds were committed that clearly became linked to the prophecies.

The poet and pirate known as Silenus and a drunkard that wanders around town attacked and gravely wounded the Guardian turtle Chu Rua. Before the eyes of a battalion of Druids and Chonguns, the two men took the blood that flowed from the turtle and fled. Druids saw to the guardian and were able to undo the damage.

Not long afterward we received intelligence that the waterways of the Wilderness were being poisoned. To investigate we immediately set out and found Silenus pouring a dark liquid into the waterways. Though we tried to detain the now known suspect of the Chu Rua incident, the poet escaped. The Monk Pitseleh performed a cleansing ritual in the Dark Hollow to purify the water.

Silenus later struck the Merchant shrine to the luck god Kubera, defiling it with unlucky items. The Merchants and Chonguns attempted to stop him but the shattered luck in the room thwarted our efforts to lay hands on him. It was eventually restored with an enormous amount of items blessed by the spirit of fortune Lucky.

Frustration in the Chongunate was mounting. It seemed we could only respond to these plots and not prevent them! The three incidents were unmistakably connected by their perpetrator. The posts on the COTW board continued, erasing any further doubts that the acts were unconnected to the prophecies.

Lastly, the Muse Odile was kidnapped and held in the crypts. Attracted by her cries, the Kugnae Royal Army and the Chonguns followed to find the drunkard who had assisted Silenus with Chu Rua holding Odile captive and.. making her sing. After she croaked out a song he fled. Odile was restored to the Muses and departed.

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What does all of this mean? What could the prophecies predict? They were surely some harbinger of further evil. Many Chonguns and Aspirants gathered in Immortal's Gateway, hoping the wisdom of the place would help us decipher the puzzle.

Not long afterward, the criminal Silenus himself slinked in. He declared that his intent behind these dark events was to resurrect the demon lord Rahu. Rahu, the Slayer of Men, the Leader of Dark Armies, the Scatterer of Humankind When we attempted to strike him we found ourselves utterly incapable, as if a wall separated us. He brazenly declared that Rahu had granted him immunity to harm until the ritual had been performed. He departed, his mocking laughter echoing through the hall.

Utterly bewildered, the small group pored over the story of General Claw and Rahu (found in the Kwanhonsagje) for any hint of how he could be defeated. The only idea that came forth was to consult General Claw, the immortal tiger of our legends.

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The tiger was silent. General Claw, the figure of Chongun Lore, had defeated the Demon lord Rahu and his armies once before. In the final battle against the demon king, Claw defeated Rahu, sacrificing himself. Chongun lore holds that the gods favored his sacrifice by granting him the immortal tiger body.

Perhaps Claw had never been much of a talker, even in his mortal form. We laid our problems at his paws, for even the strategic training of Sun Tzu left us with few options.

We beseeched Claw to aid us. After several long moments, his feline form turned away and uncovered something in a corner of the Den. It was a trigram key...

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Silenus' ritual to summon Rahu was held boldly in the Sacred Battlegrounds of the Chongun home. The Chongun Avatar Guldar and walkers ThoRrR, HoGG, Ellinia, Duer and myself along with Aspirants Ambar, Goku and even a Barbarian Nejiijen confronted Silenus as he prepared his ritual.

We approached him boldly, confident in Claw's newly bestowed advice. He had instructed us carefully on how to use the Trigram keys and how to take on mythic form to the barrier of invulnerability that surrounded Silenus.

His invulnerability that had stopped us previously protected him while he worked, pouring the blood of Chu Rua on the ground, the poisoned waters of the wilderness following. A sliver of luck represented the desecrated temple of Kubera and a Kayagum Odile's stolen song.

The ground began to shake. We did not have much time! The group of warriors surrounded him on all sides in the shape of a circle of power, slamming down the trigram and totem keys we had assembled and crying out to Claw!

Darkness fell like a shroud across the group.. But suddenly light burst forth to reveal the warriors had taken on the form of dragons, granted by the totems that had favored Claw. Silenus' invulnerability crumbled; the ritual had been interrupted; Rahu had not been summoned!

We lashed out at him, smashing the summoning circle and silencing his final words that promised he would be back.. Silenus' body disappeared as soon as life had fled it.

At last it was finished. Rahu's resurgence had been prevented. This is a tribute to the quiet tiger that sits in his den in East Buya and the second catastrophe he put to rest.

The occult invulnerabilty that protected him had been shattered by the Chonguns under his last ritual to summon Rahu, the demon lord that was held captive in the Underworld.For weeks he had sought to bring Rahu forth in order to watch the Kingdoms suffer, his only motivation being his undying lust for other people's misery.

He felt excruciating pain flow through his body, yet he grinned widely as always. Although unable to even move a finger, his violet-colored eyes glowed frantically as he gazed down at the Chongun LotusEmber, who crudely held him up by his neck.

"Heheheheh.. Ahahahahah!! You sure beat me up good... I feel like I might depart from this world any second now! I'm a god damn mess. Guess it really -is- time for the closure of my great play!"

Ember only looked up at him, slightly gritting her teeth. Like all the other Chonguns surrounding them, she was worn out from the seemingly hopeless fight that had just taken place. Among them was Kaine, HoGG, and even the Ursine Avatar himself. They all looked intently at her and the severely injured dancer as she held him up, her grip around her Shinsho tightening.An eerie silence filled the Battlegrounds, only to be broken by Silenus' continued laughter.

"Hahah...Ahahahaha...! I assure you, though... I'll be back!! Oh, you Chongun pieces of crap, just you wait..!! Gyahahahahahah!"

Ember's eyes widened slightly. Could he be right? Would he return later, to wreak even more havoc than he already had within the span of a few weeks?Her gaze briefly turned to Guldar, who gave her a slight nod. It was time to finish this.

"...Get it over with." Silenus said before coughing up a small amount of blood. He closed his eyes as he felt several blades slice through him, brutally cutting his silver thread to pieces. Then, everything faded to black. What was left of his body was dropped on the ground with a loud thud, his signature grin still plastered across his completely lifeless face as his blood gushed out. The Chonguns surrounding his corpse stared quietly as a dark aura enveloped it. Within a brief moment, the body mysteriously faded away, leaving not a single trace of him ever being present.

~x~

"What a god damn pain."

Silenus scratched the back of his head and sat up. A moment ago, he felt like his entire being had been flung through a vortex of images representing past events.He opened his eyes and blinked, adjusting to the dim light in the room he found himself lying in. The smell of decay filled the atmosphere.

"Ah, well... Looks like my backup plan worked out just fine."

He brought himself to a stand and straightened his sleeveless jacket before walking up the small staircase in front of him. Ignoring the light headache that seemed to last for an eternity, he ran a hand through his golden orange hair and narrowed his eyes to slits once again. A tall, purple torch illuminated the corner of the otherwise pitch black room, surrounded by large tablets of stone neatly placed in a circle around it. As he reached the top of the staircase, he felt an almost otherworldly presence nearby.

"Alas, it appears your plan to unleash disaster upon the lands failed after all... Silenus Hazubeki."

Silenus turned his head towards the source of the soft, soothing voice. Atop a large metal tile adorned with beautiful engravings stood a young woman with long, radiant purple hair. Her piercing, orange eyes gave off the sense of comfort, but also sorrow. A thread of shimmering pearls decorated her hair, and she wore a dark kimono that, upon closer examination, was reversed. Tied to her arm was a crimson red mask of tragedy. Tragedy... that which this woman was the very personification of.

Silenus approached her, and with the usual smile on his face, bowed gracefully as if he had just performed the greatest of plays.

"Ah, Melpomene... Looking astonishingly beautiful as always!"

He looked up at her and grinned. Melpomene let out a light sigh and returned,

"There is no need for your flattering compliments, dancer. May I remind you that my appearance is merely an accurate representation of how you view and interpret me?"

Silenus shrugged. "Oh, how could I forget? Do excuse me..."

His short laugh echoed throughout the room which turned out to be a crypt, as the light of the large torch revealed several murky gravestones that stood surrounded by rows of black, rectangular stones. He smiled once again, and offered Melpomene a nod.

"I owe you my sincerest thanks for taking good care of my new body for me. Without your help, I would've had problems coming back!"

A sad smile escaped the goddess' lips. "Naturally... I have restored your attire as well, as you may have noticed by now. It would certainly be a shame to see you, an avid contributor to what I stand for, disappear. However, while you do display great effort in bringing the most tragic catastrophes to the lands, I advise you not to think you are some manner of god when you are anything but. I observe everything you do, Silenus. You are simply a demon who worships me, the Songstress. Please do not be too reckless for my sake."

Silenus tapped his chin quietly, taking her words into consideration. A wide smile crept across his face.

"Oh, you don't have to worry, my dear Melpomene... I have no interest in dying over and over again, even if I can create as many meat puppets as I want, haha! I have intentions that I don't doubt one bit that you are aware of by now."

She nodded quietly before softly motioning her hand. For a brief moment it seemed like someone sliced open the air, and a strange, black portal materialized out of nowhere.

"Very well, then. The world needs tragedy just as much as it needs love, justice, corruption... The list continues to extend itself as it all comes full circle. Go on, Silenus. Bring more tragedy to the Kingdoms for me. I will be watching you and all my other followers from my realm."

As Silenus slowly walked toward the portal, he simply grinned widely. He went through the swirling, black circle, and instantly found himself outside the tavern of Yunsil, where a certain one-eyed drunkard held his arms in a cross as he waited for him.

"Took ya long enough." he grunted.

"Y'know, I hope you realize the only reason I never showed up for that last ritual of yours was because I always had a feeling it'd go down the drain."

Silenus smiled and gave Mujin's shoulder a light pat. "Nice to see you, too! Would it kill you to save your everlasting doubts for some other time? I mean, hey... Who gives half a crap about what some ancient evil can do when we can get stuff done ourselves?"

Mujin nodded and joined Silenus as they both walked off to their hideout located in the outskirts of Koguryo to piece together their new scheme.